There are several widely known gaming devices having three to five rotatable reels arranged side-by-side. The outer peripheral surface of the reels have placed thereon a series of symbols, such as a lemon, a cherry, a bar, or the like. Recently, machines having a video display instead of physical reels have become popular.
In both the mechanical and video type gaming devices, the player inserts a token, which may be a coin or the like, into the machine and starts the reels in motion by pulling a handle located on the side of the machine. After the reels have spun for a predetermined length of time (usually determined by a random number generator), they are stopped to display the symbols. At that time, a determination is made as to whether the combination of the displayed symbols matches a predetermined combination. If a match is sensed, the machine will payout a number of tokens in relation to the odds that the particular combination would occur.
In some existing gaming devices more than one token can be inserted by the player. In which case, the payout made for a winning symbol combination is based not only upon the odds that the particular combination would occur, but also upon the number of inserted tokens. For example, if a particular winning symbol combination pays three tokens for one inserted token, the same winning combination would pay six tokens for two inserted tokens. This is sometimes referred to a multiple payout feature.
The multiple payout feature in existing gaming devices is based only upon the number of inserted tokens. In order to increase the excitement of playing gaming devices, it is desirable to provide a device wherein a multiple payout is made random.